Infant&#39;s crib



Dec. 12, 1961 E. F. HAMILTON INFANT'S CRIB Filed Jan. 13, 1960 INVENTOR.94 E Han/1 ro v, BY

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United States Patent 3,012,254 INFANTS CRIB Earl F. Hamilton, Columbus,Ind., assignor to Hamilton Cosco, Inc, Columbus, Ind, a corporation ofIndiana Filed Jan. 13, 1960, Ser. No. 2,272 Claims. (Cl. 5-100) Thisinvention relates to an infants crib, and more particularly to a cribhaving collapsible sidewalls.

It is an object of my invention to provide a crib of attractiveappearance which can be simply and economically manufactured largelyfrom sheet-metal and metaltubing, which can be shipped in knocked-downcondition, and which will be sturdy and rigid when erected. It is afurther object of my invention to provide an infants crib havingcollapsible sidewalls which can be easily moved to and from a collapsedposition in which they are disposed in the general plane of a mattresssupported on said crib. I

In accordance with my invention, there is provided a spring-supportingframe mounted on a plurality of groundengageable legs. Rigidly mountedon the frame at each of its ends is a pair of upright members carryingan end board extending substantially above the plane of the frame andthus closing the ends of the crib.

A plurality of guide rods are mounted on said upright members andslidably carry the ends of a pair of flexible crib sidewalls. Each ofthe sidewalls has a rigid member along its upper edge which isvertically slidable on a pair of the guide rods for thus moving thesidewalls between an extended position in which their upper ends aregenerally coplanar with the upper ends of the end boards and a collapsedposition in which their upper ends are generally coplanar with thespring-supporting frame. Conveniently, means are provided for releasablyretaining said flexible sidewalls in their extended position.

Other features and embodiments of my invention will become apparent fromthe more detailed description which follows and from the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an infants crib embodying my inventionwith portions thereof being broken away;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of a corner of thecrib shown in FIG. 1, with portions thereof being broken away;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the frame-endboard mounting;

FIG. 4 is a vertical section taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary side elevation of the side panel shown in FIG.4.

As illustrated in the drawings, my crib is provided with a generallyrectangular spring-supporting frame 10 conveniently formed from lengthsof metal-tubing. As shown in FIG. 3, the end members 12 of the frame 10have their ends flattened into an arcuate configuration and bent in-Wardly to abut the ends of the side members 14 of said 1 21, and isprovided with offsets 22 adjacent its ends to provide greater rigidityand stability to its connection to the spring supporting frame.

An end frame conveniently formed from a length of metal-tubing bent intoa generally U-shaped configuration is mounted on each end of the frame.Each of said 3,012,254 Patented Dec. 12, 1961 end frames comprises apair of upright members 24 mounted on the corners of the frame 10 andextending upwardly therefrom substantially above the plane of saidframe. The upper ends of the upright members 24 are integrally joined bya transverse bight 26 disposed Well above the plane of the frame 10. Thelower ends of the members 24 extend below the plane of the frame 10 andare rigidly connected to the flattened downturned ends 28 of the frameside members 14, as by bolts 30.

In the embodiment of my invention illustrated in FIG. 1, the sides andends of the frame 10 are enclosed by side and end panels 32 and 34conveniently in the form of sheetmetal stampings. As shown in FIGS. 1and 4, each of the side panels 32 extends the length of the frame 10 andis provided at its ends with inturned flanges 36 fastened to the innerfaces of the upright members 24 'by the bolts 30' joining the framesides 14 to said uprights. The upper portions of the side panels 32 areretroverted to underlie the frame sides 14. The inherent resiliency ofthe sheetmetal panels 32 permits their upper ends to be stressed intofixed positions underlying the frame sides 14.

As shown in FIG. 1, each of the end panels 4 is provided with aninwardly extending peripheral flange 38 connected along its upperstretch to the offsets 22 on the interconnecting leg stretch 20 by bolts40. The lower stretch of said flange is slit and bent upwardly toprovide openings for the reception of the downwardly extending legs 18,and to form ears 42 bolted to the legs 18 as at 44. The lateralstretches of the flange 38 are received over the ends of the side panels32 to thus provide a smooth attractive corner design.

My crib may be provided with flexible or rigid end boards, or acombination thereof. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, I employ a rigidend board 46 mounted on one of the end frames by bolts 49, and aflexible end board 48 mounted on the end frame at the opposite end ofthe crib. As shown in FIG. 2, the flexible end board 48 comprises apanel of fabric netting 50 mounted on the uprights 24 and theirinterconnecting big-ht 26 by a plurality of metal rods. To this end, arod 52 having a plurality of spaced offsets 54 is interwoven through theupper ends of the netting strands. The oflsets 54 in the rod 52 arepress-fit into slots cut in the lower face of the bight 26, and the endsof said rod are stressed into openings formed in said bight at itsjuncture with the upright members 24. Because of its inherentresiliency, the rod 52 will be releasa'bly retained in position in thebig-ht 26 to hold the upper end of the netting in fixed positionthereon. The lateral edges of the netting 50 are retained in the uprightmembers 24 by metal rods 56, each of which has a plurality of offsets 58receivable in slots out in the inner faces of the upright members 24.The upper end of each of the rods '56 is received in an opening formedon one of the uprights 24 adjacent its upper end, and the lower end ofsaid rod is hooked, as at 60, for reception in an opening formed in theinner face of the upright 24 adjacent its connection to the frame 10.Thus, the rods 56 are interwoven between the netting strands and aremounted on the upright members as by inserting their hooked portions 60and offsets 58 into their mating openings formed in the uprights 24,with the upper ends of said rods being stressed into their respectiveopenings at the upper ends of said uprights. The lower edge of thenetting 50 may also be held in position on the crib by a metal rod 64interwoven between the lower ends of the netting strands andspringstressed into openings formed in the inner faces of the uprightmembers 24 immediately above their connections to the frame 10.Conveniently, the edges of the netting may be strengthened by a fabrichem 62 sewn onto the netting along any desired edge or edges andreceived around an adjacent mounting rod.

As best shown in FIG. 2, I mount a vertically extending guide rod 66 oneach of the uprights 24. To this end, the upper end of each guide rodhas a serpentine configuration comprising a hooked portion 68 receivedin an opening in one of the bights 26 and an arcuate portion 70projecting above said bight and interposed between the hooked portion 68and the main body of the rod 66 extending generally downwardlytherefrom. The lower ends of the guide rods are bent inwardly, as at 71,and extend through openings formed in the uprights 24 for the receptionof nuts 72 to thus retain the guide rods 66 in vertically extendingpositions set outwardly from the uprights 24.

As shown in FIG. 1, the crib sidewalls 74 are also formed from flexiblenetting. To mount the netting sidewalls on the crib, a plurality oftongues 76 are struck inwardly from the upper portions of the sidepanels 32 and hooked into the lower strands of netting. Each of thenetting sidewalls 74 has a fabric-hem 78 along its upper edge which isreceived over a metal tube 80 extending the length of the sidewall.Conveniently, the tubes 80 have caps 31 received over their ends. Thelateral edges of the sidewalls are received over and are slidable on theguide rods 66 and the opposite ends of the crib, and similarly each ofthe tubes 80 is provided with openings adjacent its ends for slidablymounting it on a pair of the guide rods at the opposite ends of thecrib. In this manner, tubes 89 are movable from a lowered positionresting on the inturned ends 71 of the rods 66 in which the sidewalls 74are in collapsed position to an extended position in which the tubes 80are disposed against the top faces of the bights 26. During the upwardmovement of the tubes 80 on the guide rods the sidewalls will beextended; with the inherent resiliency and flexibility of'the sidewallspermitting the tubes 80 to move over the arcuate guide rod portions 70to thus releasably lock the sidewalls in their extended taut positions.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an infants crib, a spring-supporting frame mounted on a pluralityof ground-engageable legs, a pair of inverted generally U-shaped tubularend frames mounted on the opposite ends of the spring-supporting frameand extending upwardly therefrom to support a pair of end boardsextending substantially above said spring-support- 'ing frame, a pair ofvertically extending guide rods mounted on the opposed sides of saidend-frames, each of'said guide rods having an inturned lower endreceived in aligned openings formed in the lower endof one of said.endframes and having first and second U-shaped bends at its upper end,said first bend being presented downwardly and terminating at thevertically extending ortionof its res ective rod and at an o nin formedP P a in the upwardly presented face of the bight of said one of saidend frames and said second bend being presented upwardly andextending'inwardly through said opening to bear against a pair ofopposed inner faces of said bight, a flexible. sidewall along each sideof the crib and having its ends slidably carried on a pair of said guiderods, and a rigid member connected to the upper end of each ofsaidsidewalls and slidably mounted on a pair of said guide rods formoving the sidewall between an extended position in which said rigidmember is received over said first bends on said guide rods to bearagainst the bights of said end frames and a collapsed position in whichsaid of said guide rods, said rigid member upon full extension movementof the sidewall sliding over the first bends of the guide rods and beingstressed downwardly against the end frame bights by the flexiblesidewalls.

2. In an infants crib, a generally rectangular spring supporting framehaving a pair of side members provided with downturned ends and a pairof end members rigidly secured to ground-engageable legs at the opposedends of the crib and having inturned ends rigidly secured to said sidemembers, a pair of endframes rigidly connected to the downturned ends ofsaid side members at the opposed ends of the spring supporting frame andextending upwardly therefrom, an end board mounted on each of said endframes, at least one of said end boards comprising a sheet of fabricnetting having a plurality of metal rods joined to the margins thereofand carried in openings formed in one of the end frames, a flexiblesidewall along each side of the crib, means on the opposed sides of saidend frames for mounting the sidewalls on the crib, said sidewalls beingmovable with respect to said means for movement between an extended tautposition in which their upper ends generally are coplanar with the upperends of the end frames and a collapsed position in which their upperends generally are coplanar with the spring-supporting frame,and meansreleasably looking said sidewalls in extended taut position.

3. The invention as set forth in claim 2 in which said end frames areformed from lengths of metal-tubing and a plurality of said metal rodsprovided with spaced offrigid member is supported on the lower inturnedends sets which are interwoven in the margins of the sheet of fabricnetting, said offsets being carried in a first set of openings formed inthe inner face of one of the end frames and the ends of said metal rodsbeing springstressed into a second set of openings formed in the innerface of said one end frame.

' 4. In an infants bed, a generally rectangular springsupporting framemounted on pairs of ground-engageable legs at the opposite ends thereof,each pair of said legs being interconnected by a transversely extendingmember rigidly connected to one end of said frame, a pair of invertedgenerally U-shaped end frames mounted on the opposite ends of thespring-supporting frame and extending upwardly therefrom to support apair of end boards extending substantially above the spring-supportingframe, a pair of sheet-metal side panels mounted on said end frames andextending along the sides of said spring-supporting frame, said sidepanels and supporting frame being connected to the end frame by commonfastening means, a pair of sheet-metal end panels mounted 'on saidground-engageable legs and extending along the which their upper endsare generally coplanar with the 7 upper ends of the end frames and acollapsed position in which their upper ends are generally coplanar withthe spring-supporting frame, and means for releasably locking saidsidewalls in extended position.

5. The invention as set forth in claim 4 with the addition that theupper portion of each of said side panels 'has a retroverted bend and isstressed into position underlying said spring-supporting frame, and thelower netting strands of the sidewalls are hooked 'over' a plurality oftongues struck outwardly from the upper portions of said side panels. I

7 References Cited in the'file of this patent V UNITED STATES PATENTS633,353 Bacon Sept. 19,1899 1,016,579 Poulnot Feb. 6, 1912 1,708,363Everhard Apr. 9,1929 2,672,627 Habelfeldt Mar. 23, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTSGreat Britain Dec. 8, 1947

